The invention relates to a transport wagon comprising a wagon frame supported on on-track undercarriages and a conveyor belt extending in the longitudinal direction of the wagon and arranged so as to be inclined in relation to the track plane, forming a lower-lying receiving end and an elevated discharge end, with which side walls are associated, extending in the longitudinal direction of the conveyor belt, to delimit laterally and form a storage space.
A transport wagon of this kind is already known through EP 0 368 046 A2. The elevated and, in the conveying direction, front end- or discharge region of the conveyor belt is designed to project over the end of the wagon frame so that the discharge end of the conveyor belt is positioned above a rear end- or receiving region of a further transport wagon. Thus, with any number of transport wagons joined together to create a train formation, bulk material can be transported continuously, with unloading and loading in each case taking place automatically. In order to create an appropriate bulk material height for the maximum storage of bulk material, the height difference of the conveyor belt between the receiving end and the discharge end is substantially equal to the inside wall height of the side walls. With a known transport wagon of this kind, however, problems occur in track curves relating to the orderly transfer of material from the elevated discharge end onto the preceding lower-lying receiving end, since as a result of the projecting arrangement, the elevated discharge end is moved away from the center of the track to a fairly considerable extent.
Further, a transport wagon comprising a conveyor belt at the base and two side walls extending parallel to one another and forming a storage space is known through DE 88 13 856 U1. The base conveyor belt which extends the whole length of the wagon has, in the transporting direction, a rear or lower-lying receiving end and an elevated discharge end projecting over the front end of the wagon. Two control flaps, each connected to a side wall, are provided in this region. These are designed to pivot about an approximately vertical axis and are in each case connected to an individual pivot drive. In operational use, these flaps essentially fit loosely against the side walls of a preceding further transport wagon and thereby prevent material from escaping laterally. In superelevated curves in which the stored bulk material is pressed towards the lower-lying side wall of the transport wagon, the flap on the inside of the curve can be adjusted by means of a control device in a pivoted position directed towards the wagon center of the preceding transport wagon. This is intended to force the flow of material back towards the center of the wagon for a more satisfactory transfer of material to the preceding wagon. What it primarily achieves, however, is merely an accumulation of material in the region of the discharge end and the side wall with the inwardly pivoted flap.
The object of the present invention consists in the creation of a transport wagon of the type described in the introduction with which, with a reduction in the constructional expenditure, it is possible to transfer material without difficulty onto a further conveyor belt disposed in front in the transporting direction, even in track curves with lateral tilt.